Curling Iron

ABSTRACT

A curling iron includes a handle, a heating element and a plurality of coaxially oriented barrels thermally coupled to the heating element. The heating element may be electrically or chemically powered. An optional hair clamp biased against at least one of the barrels is configured to clamp the hair during the curling process. One or more of the barrels may collapse into one or more of the remaining barrels.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is directed generally to the field of hairstyling. More particularly it is directed to curling irons and the likeused in the hair styling process.

OVERVIEW

A curling iron includes a handle, a heating element and a plurality ofcoaxially oriented barrels of different radii thermally coupled to theheating element. The heating element may be electrically or chemicallypowered. An optional hair clamp biased against at least one of thebarrels is configured to clamp the hair during the curling process. Inone embodiment one or more of the barrels may collapse into one or moreof the remaining barrels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more examples ofembodiments and, together with the description of example embodiments,serve to explain the principles and implementations of the embodiments.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C illustrate a hair curler in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D illustrate a hair curler in accordance withanother embodiment.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C illustrate a hair curler in accordance with anotherembodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate differences between the single hinge anddouble hinge embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments are described herein in the context of curling ironsfor styling hair. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize thatthe following description is illustrative only and is not intended to bein any way limiting. Other embodiments will readily suggest themselvesto such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. Referencewill now be made in detail to implementations of the example embodimentsas illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same referenceindicators will be used to the extent possible throughout the drawingsand the following description to refer to the same or like items.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theimplementations described herein are shown and described. It will, ofcourse, be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madein order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliancewith application- and business-related constraints, and that thesespecific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such adevelopment effort might be complex and time-consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Turning to the figures, FIGS. 1A 1B and 1C illustrate an embodiment ofthe present invention. A hair curling iron 10 for use in styling hairincludes a plurality of barrels 12, 14 and 16 (in this example). Eachbarrel 12, 14 and 16 is cylindrical in shape with a different radius andis configured to nest and collapse into the handle so that it canprovide different radius heaters for curling hair and can easily bestored for travel and the like. An insulated tip 18 on barrel 16provides a user with a way to extract or retract the barrel withoutbeing burned. Similarly tip 20 on barrel 14 does the same thing. FIG. 1Ashows the fully collapsed configuration of curling iron 10 with barrel12 available for use. FIG. 1B shows barrel 14 extracted for use. FIG. 1Cshows barrel 16 extracted for use with barrel 14 retracted into barrel12.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D illustrate another embodiment of the presentinvention. A hair curling iron 10 for use in hair styling includes aplurality of barrels 22, 24 and optionally 28. The barrels may be fixedor retractable. Each has a different diameter for providing differentradius curling action. Optionally a hair clamp 26 is provided forclamping the hair against the barrel(s) while curling. A mechanism 32biases the clamp against the barrels and a user depresses a lever 32 todisengage the clamp.

The curling iron 10 is equipped with a heater. The heater may bechemically (e.g., butane, propane, and the like) or electrically (e.g.,ceramic or coil-type heating element, and the like). A source of steammay be provided which would, in one embodiment, exit a plurality ofcircumferentially oriented holes (not shown) in the barrels. The steammay be made available continuously or in response to a user activating avalve control such as a button. Alternatively (or additionally) steammay be expelled out of the tip 18 in response to a user activating avalve control such as a button. A water reservoir would be providedinside the body of hair curler 10 in such a design in a conventionalmanner.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C illustrate another embodiment of the presentinvention. The FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C curling iron 10 includes a reservoir34 as shown for holding water with which steam may be made. A displayscreen 36 (such as an LCD panel) is provided for displaying controlinformation to a user such as temperature (derived from a temperaturesensor, not shown) and state of readiness. A temperature control 38 isprovided to adjust the temperature of the hair curler. Electrical powerline 40 is provided for powering the hair curler 10 from a receptacle. Asmall microprocessor (not shown) may be used to control the temperature,read the temperature sensor and drive the display screen 36. Auser-actuated water pump button 42 may be included to pressurize thewater tank 44 thereby helping to eject steam on demand.

A double hinge arrangement is employed in the FIG. 3A, 3B, 3 cembodiment and is shown in more detail in FIGS. 4A and 4B. In FIG. 4A aconventional single hinge arrangement is illustrated. A biasing member,not shown, biases the clamp 26 against the barrel 22. Force applied by auser to lever arm 32 swings the clamp 26 away from the barrel 22 so thathair may be inserted between the clamp and the barrel. In FIG. 4B adouble hinge arrangement is shown which provides greater movement of theclamp 26 away from the barrel 22 with a relatively small amount ofdeflection of lever arm 32. This feature provides more clearance for thehair to be inserted between the barrel 22 and the clamp 26.

While embodiments and applications have been shown and described, itwould be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above arepossible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein.The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spiritof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A curling iron, comprising: a handle; a heatingelement; and a plurality of coaxially oriented barrels thermally coupledto the heating element.
 2. The curling iron of claim 1 wherein theheating element is electrically powered.
 3. The curling iron of claim 1wherein at least one of the barrels is configured to retract intoanother one of the barrels.
 4. The curling iron of claim 1, furthercomprising a lever actuated member for clamping the hair against atleast one of the barrels, the lever actuated member biased by a biasingmember against the at least one of the barrels.
 5. The curling iron ofclaim 4 wherein the heating element is electrically powered.
 6. Thecurling iron of claim 3, further comprising a lever actuated member forclamping the hair against at least one of the barrels, the leveractuated member biased by a biasing member against the at least one ofthe barrels.
 7. The curling iron of claim 6 wherein the heating elementis electrically powered.
 8. The curling iron of claim 7, furthercomprising a source of steam and a steam hole through which the steammay be applied to hair being styled.
 9. The curling iron of claim 8,wherein the lever actuated member includes a double hinge arrangement.